Origin
At a young age, Ganymede entered the ranks of the Spinsterhood, a society of warrior women at some point in the distant past of the Marvel Universe. She became a highly adept combatant with enhanced strength and superhuman speed, agility, reflexes, etch. She can survive in outer space with no need of equipment. Her weapon of choice is her staff. It serves both as a melee weapon and a long-distance weapon projecting powerful energy blasts. Her belt is actually a transportation device, allowing her to travel through space at high speeds. Her facial markings, two stripes, represent her rank and proficiency in comparison to fellow members of the Spinsterhood. Her rival Persephone had been promoted to the next level and was marked with three stripes. Uncertain if there were even higher levels.
The Spinsterhood was in conflict with Tyrant. Tyrant is an android with similar appearance and powers to Galactus. It had been created by Galactus to serve his need for a companion in his travels through space. The android draws power from the biospheres of planets around the universe, though unlike his creator Tyrant does not actually need to eliminate the biosphere to feed. Galactus sought only survival but Tyrant dreamed of ruling the universe. He set about in a trail of conquest throughout the cosmos. The worlds which failed to surrendered were simply destroyed. Tyrant was in time challenged by Galactus in battle. Their battle “laid waste” to entire galaxies but Galactus emerged triumphant. Tyrant was mch reduced in size and power. The Spinsterhood took advantage to chase Tyrant and his surviving troops beyond the boundaries of known space. Unable to locate their foe but certain it would return, the Spinsterhood members entered suspended animation. When Tyrant returned they would awake and continue their battle.
Creation
Ganymede is a Marvel comics character created by writer Ron Marz and penciler Ron Lim. She is a member of the Spinsterhood, both group and character first appearing in Silver Surfer #80 released in 1993. Ganymede like many other Marvel characters appears to be named after the mythological character and the moon of Jupiter. Following this theme her rival and ally Persephone is named after an asteroid orbiting Jupiter.
Character Evolution
Ganymede has since been a dormant character for over a decade. It is worth noting that in her limited number of appearances, Ganymede’s writers seemed to go out of their way to find any excuse they could to get her naked and use ” Cheesecake” tactics; which clashes drastically with her chaste moral view.
Major Story Arcs
Awakening
The return of Tyrant took ages longer than they expected and their stasis chambers became space debris, most members dying in their sleep as a result of various cosmic accidents. By the time Tyrant did return, only Ganymede was available for awakening (“Silver Surfer” vol. 3 #80 – May, 1993). She took part in various cosmic adventures while continuing to believe herself the sole survivor of her order. On her first mission she encounters the Silver Surfer and engages him in combat, under the impression that he’s a servant of Tyrant. She holds her own surprisingly well considering that she’s fighting a herald of Galactus. Surfer eventually convinces her that he’s not who/what she thinks he is and the two seek out Tyrant together.
Upon arrival to Tyrant’s Fortress, Ganymede is engaged and taken captive by robots who do actually work for Tyrant. She is imprisoned alongside multiple other cosmic heroes and villains who had been taken captive the same way: Silver Surfer, Terrax, Morg, Gladiator and Beta Ray Bill. All of them had been placed in an energy draining matrix to feed Tyrant when his servants’ latest acquisition, the Jack of Hearts is brought in. Before Jack can be plugged into the matrix, he lets loose the majority of his power, destroying the matrix and freeing its captives, though taking himself out of the fight. The free captives engage Tyrant with little success, which demoralizes Ganymede. The fight goes on until Galactus himself arrives to intervene, there to reclaim Morg who is his current herald. Just to annoy Galactus, Tyrant strikes a bargain instead where he gets to keep Morg but lets all the others go. Galactus begrudgingly agrees.
Traveling With Jack of Hearts
With the battle finished, Ganymede finds new purpose in nursing the valiant Jack of Hearts back to health; in that time she fell in love with him and the two are constant traveling companions. She was hesitant to betray her oaths of chastity and often denied Jack’s advances and expressions of love for her. In Ganymede & Jack’s travels, they returned to the Spinsterhood’s homeworld and encounter what appears to be another living Spinster, which attacks them. Jack tries to reason with this steroid-enhanced-level muscle-bound woman warrior as she pummels him, but Ganymede isn’t fooled and she maneuvers behind it; pushing a button in its neck, shutting it off. This was just a robotic defense system watching over the spinsterhood’s stasis chambers. The sentry taken care of, Ganymede and Jack go into the stasis chambers to confirm her worst fears: all the other spinsters are dead. But things are even worse then they seem when they are ambushed by Thanos and Terrax.
Ganymede is surprisingly able to nearly defeat Terrax, but is eventually knocked unconscious by Thanos. Thanos takes her aboard his ship and leaves Jack behind. On board the ship, Thanos informs her that she will cooperate or perish. But when she learns that they intend to defeat Tyrant she willingly cooperates. She tells Thanos all the information she knows of Tyrant and they embark on Tyrant’s Fortress. Upon their arrival they are attacked by a mind controlled Morg, who they are able to defeat. Jack of Hearts arrives with Legacy and during the battle Ganymede’s feelings are let known to Jack, that defeating Tyrant is more important than his love.
Ganymede shows no fear while facing Tyrant, but Thanos arrives and reveals some new information he has learned of Tyrant. Ganymede realizes that she was nothing but a pawn in Thanos’ scheme and attacks him but she is easily dispatched by the Mad Titan. She and Jack are rescued by Legacy and Terrax, and they escape while Thanos battles with Tyrant.
Not Alone
Ganymede and Jack go on another relaxing trip together, during which their first kiss was interrupted by the unexpected arrival of another member of the Spinsterhood, Persephone. The latter had indeed died in her stasis chamber but was somehow revived in a clone body by Jakar (an extradimensional being who has at times impersonated the Stranger). The two ladies resumed their rivalry but vowed to continue their mission as the two survivors of their order (“Cosmic Powers Unlimited” #3 – November, 1995). Ganymede and Persephone abandoned Jack and left together, leaving some hints that the two were partners in more than one sense. They apparently never learned that Tyrant met its end by the Ultimate Nullifier in “Silver Surfer” vol. 3 #109 (September, 1995). When last seen they were still on a wild goose chase for an already deceased foe. In the process they faced and defeated various space predators who mistook them for easy prey.
Powers and Abilities
Highly experienced and skilled fighter, Ganymede is extremely accomplished and competent hand to hand fighter, and possesses numerous skills and ability with a multitude of weapons. Ganymede possesses super human strength, enabling her to lift upward of 50 tons. She also possesses superhuman speed, superhuman agility enhanced durability and resilience. Ganymede also possesses enhanced reflexes aiding her impressive combat ability. Ganymede can endure the rigor of space, among other hostile environments with no additional aid. She often carries a specialized Spinster energy staff which she can use in combat as a staff or use to fire energy bolts. She also typically utilizes a spinster belt which allows for flight.
Physical Characteristics
Height: 5’8″
Weight: 195 lbs
Hair: Black
Eyes: Yellow